Maui, Hawaii in 1885 - Lahaina, Wailuku, Makawao

The Hawaiian Government Survey issued this large-format map of Maui in 1885, again based on the primary triangulation carried out by W.D. Alexander and S.E. Bishop, but preserved here in its original edition predating the later 1903 revision issued after American annexation. Published under the independent Hawaiian Kingdom, this map stands as one of the most detailed maps of Maui produced anywhere during the nineteenth century, and it carries a distinctive land-tenure record not found on the later American-era revision, coloring Crown lands in yellow and Government lands in green according to the divisions established under Kamehameha III's Great Mahele land division of 1848.

Landowner names and grant information are recorded across the island alongside its topography and early road network, offering an unusually detailed picture of how Maui's land had been apportioned between the monarchy, the government, and private grantees in the decades following the Great Mahele. A modest town plan for Lahaina, the Hawaiian Kingdom's former capital on the island's western coast, is included, while Wailuku anchors the central valley between Maui's two volcanic massifs and Makawao serves the upland ranching country on Haleakala's northern slopes. As an original Kingdom-era edition of the survey, this map offers a genuinely distinct historical document from the later, revised American-territorial printing of the same base triangulation.

This map is a fine gift for a family with Maui roots, for a transplant now settled on the island, or for a collector interested in the original Kingdom-era land divisions established under the Great Mahele. It is offered unframed in a range of sizes.